Chennai Smashers beat Bangalore TopGuns to enter PBL semis

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P.V Sindhu has been very stable for Chennai Smashers this season. (photo: PTI)

Bangalore: In the last regular season league tie of Premier Badminton League (PBL), Chennai Smashers beat Bangalore TopGuns 3-2 at the Sri Kanteerava Indoor Stadium on Wednesday to advance to the semifinals.P.V Sindhu has been very stable for Chennai Smashers this season. (photo: PTI)

 

The crowd went silent when Sony Kuncoro of Chennai Smashers defeated Bangalore TopGuns’ Sameer Verma in a riveting encounter by 15-10, 10-15, 15-8. Chennai Smashers has selected this match to be its Trump match, and Verma’s defeat saw their semifinal hopes evaporated as Bangalore TopGuns had to win all their matches on Wednesday to gain five points, excluding the bonus point to sail through the knockout stage.

The TopGuns then sprung a surprise by pairing Hoon Thien How with Joachim Fischer Nielsen in the men’s doubles match. Fischer used his height advantage to smash his way to 15-7, 15-8 win over Chennai’s Chris Adcock/Pranaav Chopra.

Indian badminton star Srikanth Kidambi then got Bangalore race past Chennai with a 2-1 lead when he overwhelmed his French shuttler Brice Leverdez 15-4, 15-12 in 21 minutes.

In the one-sided match between the Chinese youngster, Suo Di, who had been the star performer for Bengaluru TopGuns this season and India’s No. 2 women’s singles player P.V Sindhu, the Indian star outplayed Suo 15-12, 15-7 in straight games.

With the final match of the tie being selected as the ‘Trump Match’ by the home team Bengaluru TopGuns, Joachim Fischer Nielsen returned to the court partnered with Ashwini Ponnappa to battle Chris Adcock and Pia Zebadiah of Chennai Smashers in the mixed doubles match. The Chennai pair of Chris Adcock and Pia Zebadiah prevailed over Ashwini Ponnappa and Joaquim Fisher Nilesen 15-14, 15-12, thus clinching the tie 3-2 for Chennai.
Earlier Wednesday, Delhi Acers pulled off a 4-1 win against Mumbai Rockets. After the victory, Delhi Acers topped the rankings with 20 points followed by Awadhe Warriors, who are on 17 points. The other two teams that made the semifinals are Chennai Smashers and Mumbai Rockets.

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